Mavs tennis heading to districts with high aspirations

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake High School boys and girls tennis teams concluded their regular seasons at Wenatchee on Saturday, falling short 2-5 and 0-7, respectively.  

“Obviously we would like a little different outcome on both sides, but Wenatchee is a really solid program,” MLHS head tennis coach Jay Dickinson said, “It was really a good opportunity for both those teams to kind of fine-tune some of their game.” 

The boys' first and second doubles contributed two points to the overall score. Caleb Dickinson and Emitt Madsen took the first doubles in two sets, winning 6-4 and 6-1. Carsen Owens and Sam Molitor won the second doubles in two sets as well, winning 6-1 and 6-2. Dickinson feels this will be a good momentum boost as he sends those players to districts. 

“I thought they communicated well, they played well at the net, and the serving, you can tell when guys are really focused when their serve games are solid. I thought we had a lot of that,” Dickinson said. 

The boys finished third in the league while the girls secured second after defeating Eastmont last Thursday. Placing in the top two in their league allows the girls team to bring three extra players to districts.  

The girls team will be bringing eight of its nine seniors to districts. Dickinson is excited for his seniors to finish their high school careers in this way.  

“That's kind of a cool culmination for them,” he said. “Not all of them have ever played (at districts), so people like Selah Loomis and Kalei Bruce and Madi McDonald are going to get those bottom three spots and get that cool opportunity to compete at districts,” he said.  

Despite the tough loss, Dickinson said playing teams like Wenatchee only makes his players better.  

“I felt like all four of our singles guys probably played some of the best tennis they've ever played, stepping up against that kind of competition, so that was pretty fun to watch,” he said.  

Heading into district competition, there is a good feeling across both teams that they can be successful and make a push for states, according to Dickinson. As they prepare, the coaching staff has brought in volunteers and former players for their players to hit with. Giving them some new competition to stay sharp instead of playing each other like they have all season.  

The Mavericks head to districts Thursday, April 15, and conclude Saturday, April 17. They will be trying to place in the top two of each bracket in order to send more players to state.